New plea reached for ex-JPD officer

Agreement calls for 4 years in prison

A new plea agreement has been reached in the criminal case against former Juneau police officer Brian Todd Ervin, according to sources associated with the case.

The agreement calls for Ervin to serve four years in prison, which is at least double the time agreed to in the previous plea deal, the sources said. Ervin pleaded no contest in the fall of 2010 to a charge of attempted interference with official proceedings after originally facing multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

In a phone interview with the Empire, Erik Ervin said he had called the district attorney on Friday for an update in the case, and District Attorney Dave Brower informed him a new plea deal had been negotiated. That agreement calls for four years of jail time, he said.

“He said it’s double than what was on the table before, and that he seemed to be pleased,” Erik said.

Erik said that the new deal still isn’t enough.

“He’s still going to get out and be around kids, and that’s a problem and misses the point of all this, in my opinion,” he said.

Erik Ervin is Brian Ervin’s half-brother. At a sentencing hearing earlier this week, Erik testified Brian had sexually abused him and another family member during their childhoods. That new information caused the sentencing hearing to be continued until Feb. 10.

The Empire does not publish the names of victims of sexual abuse without permission, which Erik Ervin gave.

Brian Ervin had originally been accused of sexually abusing a minor, who is now 18. She echoed Erik’s sentiments, and intimated she was not consulted about the new plea deal. The woman, who has asked to be identified only as “SAM,” said she was told about the new plea deal Thursday evening after it had already been negotiated. SAM are the initials for sexual abuse of a minor, the crime Brian Ervin originally faced.

Both Brower and Brian Ervin’s attorney Julie Willoughby refused to comment on the negotiations or any new plea deal.

“I’m not going to talk about anything involved with the Ervin case,” Brower said.

Brower said it would be discussed at the hearing next Friday in Juneau Superior Court.

When asked if this meant both sides had agreed and the case was closed, Brower said, “What part of ‘the negotiations I’m not going to talk about’ did you not understand?”

Brian Ervin’s no contest plea in August stemmed from his attempt to contact the victim as the criminal matter was pending in court.

The previous plea agreement reached with prosecutors called for Ervin to serve somewhere between a minimum of one year in jail and a maximum of two years.

That deal also stipulated there would be no conditions of probation prohibiting Ervin from contacting minors and he would not be designated a sex offender. Whether the new plea bargain contains similar stipulations was not immediately known.

Erik Ervin said he sat down with the Juneau Police Department for an official interview detailing the alleged abuse before he flew back to Texas on Tuesday evening. He is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“I gave a full interview, every detail I could remember — from the abuse to me, to where he worked, to certain dates, and I drew out a family tree of all of his siblings, gave their ages and their contact information,” Ervin said.

Ervin said the other relative alleging abuse by Brian Ervin gave an interview to local police in Texas on Friday morning.

That interview was set up by the JPD, he said.

• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com, and Klas Stolpe at 523-2228 or at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com